1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a pole mounted rotation platform and wind power generator, and more particularly to a pole mounted rotation platform and wind power generator capable of being mounted to an existing structure that may or may not be substantially, vertically oriented.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wind is a source of clean, renewable energy. Utilization of wind energy reserves the earth's fossil fuels (e.g., coal, natural gas and oil) and alleviates the additional environmental impacts associated with burning fossil fuels. Wind, as a clean, efficient and abundant, never-ending resource, generates clean energy using the most up-to-date technologies available. Today, wind energy is the fastest-growing renewable energy resource in the world. Wind currently only produces a small percentage of our nation's electricity; however during the past twenty (20) years, the cost of wind energy has dropped dramatically, making it competitive with other energy sources.
Wind is air in motion caused by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. The earth's surface is comprised of land and water, which absorb the sun's heat at different rates. During the day, the air above land heats up more readily than the air over water. The warm air over land heats, expands and rises, causing the heavier, cooler air to rush in and take its place, creating winds. At night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly over land than over water.
Since ancient times, people have harnessed the winds energy. Throughout history, societies have used wind to sail ships and have built windmills to grind wheat, corn and other grains, to pump water and to cut wood at sawmills. As late as the 1920's, Americans began using small windmills to generate electricity in rural areas without electric service. When power lines began to transport electricity to rural areas in the 1930's, local windmills were less frequently used.
The oil shortages of the 1970's changed the energy picture for the nation and the world by creating an interest in alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, geothermal and other alternative energy sources. In the 1990's, a renewed interest in alternative energy sources came from a concern for the environment in response to scientific studies indicating potential changes to the global climate if the use of fossil fuels continued to increase. Wind is a clean, renewable fuel and wind farms produce no air or water pollution compared to refineries, because no fuel is burned. Growing concern about emissions from fossil fuels, increased government support, and higher costs for fossil fuels have helped wind power capacity in the United States grow substantially over the last ten (10) years.
Wind turbines typically capture the wind's energy using blades, which are mounted on a rotor, to generate electricity. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the blade; this low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, resulting in lift and causing the rotor to turn. Since the force of the lift is much stronger than the force of the drag, the combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller. The spinning rotor is connected to a generator to make electricity.
There are two main types of wind turbines used today based on the direction of the rotating shaft or axis: horizontal-axis wind turbines and vertical-axis wind turbines. The size of wind turbines varied from small turbines having a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts to large commercial sized turbines having a capacity of around five (5) megawatts. Larger turbines are often grouped together into wind farms that provide power to the electrical grid.
Most wind turbines being used today are the horizontal-axis wind turbines, typically having two or three airfoil blades. Horizontal-axis wind turbines generally harness winds at 100 feet (30 meters) or more above ground. Vertical-axis wind machines have blades that go from top to bottom, with the most common type being the Darrieus wind turbine. Vertical-axis wind turbines typically stand 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide. The Wind Amplified Rotor Platform (“WARP”) is a different type of wind system that does not use large blades. Each module of the WARP has a pair of small, high capacity turbines mounted to concave wind amplifier module channel surfaces. The concave surfaces channel wind toward the turbines, amplifying wind speeds.
Further, most-vertical axis wind machines feature a pivot balanced, point of rotation and assume that the existing structure is vertical and specifically adaptable to the turbine.
Most wind turbines being used today are installed in wind farms, which require huge investments, expense, and large expanses of land. Many of the known devices for harnessing the wind are cumbersome, very large, maintenance prone, expensive, or have a large impact on the environment and aesthetics of the large areas in which they are erected. Additionally, the majority of new wind power generation devices require deployment on newly built infrastructures, built outside of cities. However, cities are where the power is needed the most, so elaborate transmission systems must also be built to take advantage of these newly deployed systems, resulting in large and prohibitive implementation costs and large power losses during the transmission over large distances.